The author Alan Weisman has graciously allowed people to read that chapeter for free....it is really eye opening.
~Garnet
Homesteading/Farming over 20 years
P.S. Please remember, just because you can no longer see something, does not mean it is no longer there. You cannot see the cold and flu germs that make you ill....you cannot see gravity, yet if you jumped out of a tree do you think gravity would fail to affect you just because it is invisible?
P.P.S. I completely failed in reading!!!! ~sheesh~ I read your word %26quot;paper%26quot; as %26quot;plastic.%26quot; I%26#039;m still going to leave this answer up, since people need to know about plastics. However to answer your question about PAPER, properly, the answer is %26quot;it depends.%26quot;
Do you live in a damp area, and is the bag exposed to the eliments, including sunlight, and rain? In the Pacific Northwest, I%26#039;ve seen PAPER bags decompose and slime away in about a week, in the well Falls they have there. Burried underground, like in a landfill? Paper can last a shockingly long time. They can go to old landfills, and dig up newspapers from World War I (one) which are still readable!
Lack of oxygen and proper bacterial growth to break the paper down in those places. Still, paper is paper, it will eventually break down and is not harmful to the environment, unlike plastics.
Other Answers (1)
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if you are talking about the big paper bags that you can use for leaves or other yard waste about 4 months in an active compost pile.Buy keeping the pile moist and actively turning it the bags compost about the same length of time as other organic matter